Lebanon enters a phase of presidential vacancy after President Michel Aoun left Palazzo Baabda, without a candidate capable of obtaining a majority in Parliament.
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Presidential Palace in Baabda (Lebanon)
Today, Tuesday, Lebanon entered a presidential holiday phase with the end of the mandate of President Michel Aoun, at midnight on Monday, Tuesday, for lack of a candidate capable of obtaining the required majority in Parliament.
The European Union has warned of the consequences of the political vacuum in Lebanon following the expiry of Aoun’s mandate and the failure of political parties to reach an agreement on a successful candidate.
Aoun has left the presidential palaceOn Sunday, a day before the end of his presidential term, as thousands of his supporters gathered to greet him, Aoun spent the last day of his term on Monday at his residence in Rabieh, north of Beirut.
Since the end of September, parliament has failed four times to elect a new president, with no party in the House of Representatives having a majority to choose a president.
In Lebanon, the assignment of a prime minister, the formation of a government or even the election of a president often takes months. In 2016, after more than two years of vacancy in the presidency, Aoun was elected president after 46 sessions. in parliament according to a political agreement between the parties.
The presidential vacuum this time comes in light of an accelerated economic collapse that the World Bank has ranked among the worst in the world for decades and with a provisional government unable to make the necessary decisions, especially by implementing the reforms that the international community considers it a condition for supporting Lebanon.
It also comes after unprecedented popular protests that lasted for months in 2019 against the political class and at a time when Lebanese are focused on securing a livelihood in light of high prices or withdrawing their money stuck in banks.
The dismissal of the government and the non-acceptance of the resignation
According to the constitution, the president’s powers must be transferred to the Council of Ministers, but political differences after the parliamentary elections in May prevented the formation of a new government, while the interim government led by Najib Mikati continues to exercise its functions.
Aoun anticipated the end of his mandate by signing a decree Consider the resignation of the provisional governmentHis refusal to allow the Mikati government to exercise the president’s powers.
For weeks, Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati have exchanged accusations of obstructing the formation of a government due to counter-conditions and conditions.
Aoun’s move plunged the country into a constitutional controversy over the powers of the Mikati government, which confirmed that his government, practically resigned after the parliamentary elections, You will continue to do business.
Mikati called “unconstitutional” the issue by President Michel Aoun of a decree accepting the resignation of the government, adding that “the conduct of business is one of the duties of the resigned government, or which is considered by virtue of resignation, without need for a decision by the President of the Republic “.
